My first time

First and foremost, Corey's coccyx is feeling much better. Thanks for all your well wishes. It's still bothering him if he sits for a long period of time, but overall he's OK. Of course he couldn't be totally pain free as he went and turned his ankle playing basketball on Saturday. My gimpy husband, with his irritated coccyx limping around on his swollen foot, lovely. Usually I'm the clutzy one.

Anyways...
Last week was super busy with fun, new experiences. I talk about these not to be boastful, but rather because I'm excited about them, since they were a blast and thank God something finally hit.

Chicago is great, and I have so many opportunities here, but along with opportunity comes competition. When it comes to acting, you have to get used to the rejection. You can go on 10 auditions, feel that they all went great (in a perfect world - this never happens in reality, of course) and only get cast for 1 thing, if any. I understand it, I'm prepared for it, but sometimes it can get a little daunting to continue to strive for something that just isn't happening.
Finally, last week I made some progress. Surprisingly, a bunch of stuff all at once. I already told you about the rock album and the music video (more on that next week) for my styling business. Last week I also booked some really cool acting gigs.

First I shot a commercial for HumanaOne Insurance. I'm still unclear if it was a step-commercial, something for them to use internally, or an actual national or local spot, but either way, it was my first. Oh yeah, no more pink hair, had to cover it up. Damn! I only got to keep it for 8 days.

There was no script, basically I was just given a character breakdown. I played a woman in her early 30's (WTF?) looking for independent health insurance. I went in and just talked to the director on camera. Since there was no official script, they asked us (there were a lot of people of various ages and with different storylines and character needs) to talk about our situations. Why did we need insurance, why were we hesitant, etc. I had a chance to watch a couple people before me, so when it came to my turn I was ready. The shoot went perfectly. They LOVED me. Again, not bragging, but man with all the rejection from auditions lately, I just needed something to go well, for my own self-esteem more than anything. Sometimes you just feel it and you know you're "on". I was making them laugh off camera, they loved my character and how I looked on camera. I looked at the whole thing as a way to make contacts for acting AND for styling. I was even hitting it off with the lighting guy who's done a lot of feature work. Everyone on that set ended up with my card in their hand. The director even hinted at actually working with me again as a stylist since he didn't have many hair and makeup contacts, not just losing my card after I left.

Funniest part of that shoot was when this older fellow shooting before me was asked to talk about how he wanted good quality insurance, and wasn't looking for a bargain because he's used to high end things, and that he prefers "top shelf" items. I understand that he was trying to go with the flow and use his own words, but the poor guy clearly wasn't comfortable improvising as he ended up saying, "I worked my way up.... I want a steak, not a hamburger and that's why I need health insurance." It was hilarious, David (the lighting guy) and I did our best not to laugh at loud because it sounded like this guy needed insurance because he eats steak. Who knows when I'll get another on film gig like this again, but I'm feeling much better and it'll at least tie me over for a couple more months.

Then on Friday, I woke up at 5:00am to be a on-air character for a "major" Midwest radio show (Another first!). Supposedly, rather than have the actual listeners who write the shock jock crazy emails call in themselves, they hire actors to portray these listeners and of course embellish and trash them up. I had to be on the phone from 5:00am - 10:00am ready to talk at any point. I played a dancer turned prostitute who wanted to give her daughter away to the host or a listener for a few years so she could clean up her life. Really it was some of the most sophisticated work I've ever done. It was crazy, but a lot of fun, I'd probably do it again if given the chance. Of course being a fast paced radio show, I was only on for a couple minutes throughout the whole time. I even got to talk to Ron Jeremy since he was in the studio. The downside besides being up at 5:00am was this: You know how a morning talk radio show is loud with crazy sounds going off and it's repetitive and very ADD? The main reason is of course because people only listen for a short amount of time, usually in their car and the producers want to get as much in as possible. Well imagine listening to that, intently, phone against your ear, actually paying attention because they could say "your name" at any minute.... FOR 5 HOURS! By the time it was done, I was jittery from all the caffeine and my brain felt like it had been scrambled. This probably isn't going to lead to anything big, but it's nice on the resume, and was fun. Besides how else would I have talked to Ron Jeremy. OK, besides the times he's hanging out at our house...I'm talking in a non-professional way people, geez.

-Mo